pinenutssalmonella.bmpThe CDC announced today that a Salmonella outbreak has sickened 42 people in six states, including 26 confirmed cases in New York alone.  Wegmans has recalled the pine nuts that the CDC and state health departments have identified as the source of the outbreak.

The CDC’s statement about the outbreak:

CDC is collaborating with public health and agriculture officials in New York and other states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis infections linked to Turkish pine nuts purchased from bulk bins at Wegmans grocery stores. Representatives from Wegmans are cooperating with public health officials. Public health investigators are using DNA “fingerprints” of Salmonella bacteria obtained through diagnostic testing with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, or PFGE, to identify cases of illness that may be part of this outbreak. They are using data from PulseNet, the national subtyping network made up of state and local public health laboratories and federal food regulatory laboratories that performs molecular surveillance of foodborne infections.

A total of 42 individuals infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis have been reported from 6 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state with the outbreak strain is as follows: Arizona (1), Maryland (1), New Jersey (2), New York (26), Pennsylvania (8), and Virginia (4).

Among 42 persons for whom information is available, illnesses began on or after August 20, 2011. Ill persons range in age from <1 to 94 years, and the median age is 43 years old. Fifty-seven percent of patients are female. Two patients were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.